Homeland Security News

Several people were attacked by a knife-wielding man in downtown Turku on Friday afternoon, according to police in south-west Finland. Police said that a suspect in the incident was shot in the leg and taken into police custody, and advised the public to stay away from the centre.

It remains unknown how many people were injured in an apparent stabbing rampage in Turku on Friday.  Eyewitnesses report that several people were lying on the ground at the city's Central Market Square and about two blocks away at the Puutori-Market Square area.

Police were carrying out an operation in central Turku on Friday afternoon following reports of shots in the Puutori-Market Square area.  Eyewitnesses report hearing one or more gunshots, and seeing at least one person lying, apparently lifeless at Puutori.  At least two people are reported injured, including at the Market Square, a few blocks away.

An Yle reporter at the scene says that the body on the ground at Puutori has been covered.  Around 4:40 pm, South-West Finland police said via Twitter: "Several people stabbed in central Turku.  People are requested to avoid the city centre."

A few minutes later police tweeted that they had shot a suspected assailant in the leg and taken him into custody.  They again asked the public to leave the area.

Source: Finland News

Afghan government has put in place tight security for the 99th Independence Day to be celebrated on August 19, amid renewed spirit of patriotism across the country.

The day marks the end of British control over the country’s foreign policy after three Anglo-Afghan Wars in the 19th and 20th centuries that also compelled the then Afghan rulers to acknowledge Durand Line as border between Afghanistan and the then British India.  The country’s Ministry of Interior has announced special security arrangements in all 34 provinces for tomorrow. 

Besides a number of public functions, the main government events for the Independence Day are being celebrated at the shrine of Amanullah Khan in eastern Jalalabad city and at the Arg (Presidential Palce) in Kabul.

Read more: World Bulletin

A massive manhunt is under way in Spain for the man suspected of killing 13 people and injuring scores on Barcelona's Las Ramblas on Thursday.

Spanish media named the man being sought as 18-year-old Moussa Oukabir.

He is suspected of using his brother's documents to rent the van that mowed down people on the famous boulevard.

Hours later, police killed five suspected jihadists in a second vehicle attack in the town of Cambrils. A woman injured in that attack died later.

Police said the men killed in Cambrils were linked to the Barcelona attack, which the Islamic State group said it had carried out.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy condemned what he called a "jihadist attack" in Barcelona. He has announced three days of national mourning and a minute's silence was held at noon (10:00 GMT) on Friday.

Spanish media have quoted police as saying that they are seeking Moussa Oukabir, but they will not say directly that he is the man believed to have been behind the wheel of the van.

Two images of Moussa Oukabir have been used in the Spanish press, taken from social media.

The driver of the van fled on foot after mowing down tourists and locals on Las Ramblas.

Read more:  BBC News

Spanish police on Friday shot and killed five people carrying bomb belts who were connected to the Barcelona van attack that killed at least 13, as the manhunt intensified for the perpetrators of Europe’s latest rampage claimed by the Islamic State group.

The Catalan government said police in the popular seaside resort of Cambrils, south of Barcelona, were responding to a second terrorist attack early Friday when they fatally shot five people near the town’s seaside boardwalk.

Police didn’t provide details of the attack, but Spanish media reported that a car had plowed into a police vehicle and civilians in Cambrils, and that officers had shot the attackers, one of whom brandished a knife. Six people, including a police officer, were injured. The bomb squad detonated the bomb belts.

The Cambrils attack came hours after a white van veered onto Barcelona’s picturesque Las Ramblas promenade and mowed down pedestrians, zig-zagging down the strip packed with locals and tourists from around the world. Thirteen people were killed and 100 were injured, 15 of them seriously.

The region’s Interior Minister Joaquin Forn told local radio RAC1 the Cambrils attack “follows the same trail. There is a connection.”

Read more: AP